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Author Topic: Five of the most overlooked books of the past century  (Read 346 times)

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Offline punkdrew

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Five of the most overlooked books of the past century
« on: September 11, 2008, 07:30:31 PM »
Fremder--Russell Hoban. As brilliant as Riddley Walker, this book chronicles the psychological dissolution and resurrection of an astronaut whose father's face keeps reappearing after his ship was lost near a black hole.

Godbody--Theodore Sturgeon. Ted's last and almost his best. Jesus returns and straightens out misconceptions about his teachings (and corrects a few neuroses along the way).

Love Is A Dog From Hell--Charles Bukowski. Beautiful, tragic, rollicking, drunk, passionate. "Don't forget your Bach/and your Brahms/and your BEER."

Swastika Night--Katherine Burdekin. Similar to Phil Dick's The Man In The High Castle, but published 25 years earlier, this novel takes place in a world more than halfway through Adolf Hitler's Thousand Year Reich.

The Myth of the Hyperactive Child--Peter Schrag/Diane Divoky. Even though written over 30 years ago, many of its questions are still unanswered, while many of its dire predictions came true.
« Last Edit: September 12, 2008, 04:39:26 PM by wandrew »
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Alex179: Everything that is living is dying.   It will stop dying when it is dead.
"Earth is the cradle of Humanity. But one cannot live in a cradle forever."--Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
The law is the law. Rules are rules. God is God. A is A. Black is black. I want my baby back.

Offline Lucifer

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Re: Five of the most overlooked books of the past century
« Reply #1 on: September 12, 2008, 12:19:07 AM »
/watches thread with interest...

great idea, wandrew.   :thumbup:

 :plus:

Offline Gluey

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Re: Five of the most overlooked books of the past century
« Reply #2 on: September 15, 2008, 11:03:50 PM »
I was expecting the Holy Bible  :zoinks:
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Offline punkdrew

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Re: Five of the most overlooked books of the past century
« Reply #3 on: September 15, 2008, 11:05:41 PM »
No, but definitely the Koran. Which I keep meaning to read so I can try and figure out which "Islam experts" are full of shite.
Quote
Alex179: Everything that is living is dying.   It will stop dying when it is dead.
"Earth is the cradle of Humanity. But one cannot live in a cradle forever."--Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
The law is the law. Rules are rules. God is God. A is A. Black is black. I want my baby back.

Offline enronh

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Re: Five of the most overlooked books of the past century
« Reply #4 on: September 17, 2008, 07:27:19 AM »
I've been meaning to read more Bukowski after 'Ham on Rye' so i'll take your recommendation.  :thumbup: As for the others i'll keep them in mind.

Offline ApotheosisIV

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Re: Five of the most overlooked books of the past century
« Reply #5 on: September 17, 2008, 08:35:16 AM »
William Burroughs - Junky
Henry Miller - Tropic of Cancer
Michael Houllebecq - The Possibility of an Island
Halmos - Finite Dimensional Vector Spaces
Cohn - Algebra Vol.I
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Offline odeon

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Re: Five of the most overlooked books of the past century
« Reply #6 on: September 17, 2008, 12:04:40 PM »
No, but definitely the Koran. Which I keep meaning to read so I can try and figure out which "Islam experts" are full of shite.

Won't help you much because it's all about historical context.
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Re: Five of the most overlooked books of the past century
« Reply #7 on: September 19, 2008, 02:01:58 PM »
William Burroughs - Junky
Henry Miller - Tropic of Cancer
Michael Houllebecq - The Possibility of an Island
Halmos - Finite Dimensional Vector Spaces
Cohn - Algebra Vol.I

Why these ones?
You'll never self-actualize the subconscious canopy of stardust with that attitude.

Offline punkdrew

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Re: Five of the most overlooked books of the past century
« Reply #8 on: September 19, 2008, 10:18:21 PM »
William Burroughs - Junky
Henry Miller - Tropic of Cancer
Michael Houllebecq - The Possibility of an Island
Halmos - Finite Dimensional Vector Spaces
Cohn - Algebra Vol.I

Short answer: because.

Long answer: In the case of Burroughs and Miller, these are first novels and absolutely set forth their style and declare to the world, "I spit on your rules. I don't live by the moral code of idiots. I obey a higher law--a SPIRITUAL law."

In the case of the other three, I'm not a mathematician so my opinion would be worthless.
Quote
Alex179: Everything that is living is dying.   It will stop dying when it is dead.
"Earth is the cradle of Humanity. But one cannot live in a cradle forever."--Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
The law is the law. Rules are rules. God is God. A is A. Black is black. I want my baby back.

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Re: Five of the most overlooked books of the past century
« Reply #9 on: September 20, 2008, 06:37:59 AM »
Most overlooked author ever : Jean Rhys

Offline ApotheosisIV

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Re: Five of the most overlooked books of the past century
« Reply #10 on: September 20, 2008, 11:51:18 AM »
William Burroughs - Junky
Henry Miller - Tropic of Cancer
Michael Houllebecq - The Possibility of an Island
Halmos - Finite Dimensional Vector Spaces
Cohn - Algebra Vol.I

Short answer: because.

Long answer: In the case of Burroughs and Miller, these are first novels and absolutely set forth their style and declare to the world, "I spit on your rules. I don't live by the moral code of idiots. I obey a higher law--a SPIRITUAL law."

In the case of the other three, I'm not a mathematician so my opinion would be worthless.

I agree about Burroughs and Miller; also beautifully written.
The last two are maths texts.
I wanted to include someone more modern so i though of Houllebecq: I appreciate his pessimism and he is another superb writer. 'Whatever' is also a masterpiece.
batcat